New research highlights two factors that play a critical role in supporting reef fish populations and – ultimately – creating conditions that are more favorable for the growth of both coral reefs and seagrass.
Read moreFreshwater fish are the most threatened vertebrate group, and species are disappearing faster than scientists can describe them. A new study shows that aquarium hobbyists can play an important role in freshwater fish conservation by filling in the gaps left by the scientific community and conservation organizations.
Read moreSpecies have few good options when it comes to surviving climate change — they can genetically adapt to new conditions, shift their ranges, or both. But new research indicates that conflicts between species as they adapt and shift ranges could lead experts to underestimate extinctions, and underscores the importance of landscape connectivity.
Read moreA team led by biologists have identified the ways in which herbicide-resistant strains of the invasive common waterhemp weed have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario. The resistance, first detected in 2010, spread thanks to two mechanisms: either pollen and seeds of resistant plants were physically dispersed by wind, water and other means, or resistance appeared through the spontaneous emergence of mutations that then spread.
Read moreSanta Barbara County residents love their coastline, from the small-town beaches of Carpinteria to Santa Barbara's waterfront to camping hotspots like Jalama Beach and dramatic Guadalupe Dunes. But drastic changes are in store in coming decades as temperatures and sea levels rise, bringing massive impacts to local ecology and human systems.
Read morePurple martins will soon migrate south for their usual wintertime retreat, but this time the birds will be wearing what look like little backpacks, so scientists can track their roosting sites along the way. The researchers recently discovered that purple martins are roosting in small forest patches as they migrate from North America to Brazil, an unexpected behavior.
Read moreA new study seeks to tease out some of the myriad pressures that drive adaptation in small, widely dispersed marine animals called copepods.
Read moreAn in-depth look at Australia's Great Barrier Reef over the past 91 years concludes that since 1928 intertidal communities have experienced major phase-shifts as a result of local and global environmental change, leaving few signs that reefs will return to their initial state in the near future. The long-term implications of these changes highlight the importance of avoiding phase shifts in coral reefs which may take many decades to repair, if at all.
Read moreBy connecting small, restored patches of savanna to one another via habitat corridors at an experimental landscape within the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a nearly 20-year-long study has shown an annual increase in the number of plant species within fragments over time, and a drop in the number of species disappearing from them entirely.
Read moreThe living tissue on corals protects their skeleton from dissolving as a result of ocean acidification according to an in situ experiment on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
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